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LETTERS: Joel Brind Study shows greater cancer risk BMJ 2008; 336: 59-b-60-b [Full text]

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Correction to: "Study shows greater cancer risk"

Joel Brind   (13 January 2008)

Correction to: "Study shows greater cancer risk" 13 January 2008
Joel Brind, professor Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10010 Send response to journal: Re: Correction to: "Study shows greater cancer risk"	There is a technical error in the wording of my letter "Study shows greater cancer risk", which critiqued the study by Hannaford et al. last September. Specifically, In the penultimate paragraph, the following wording appears: "...a use pattern producing threefold increases in the risk of breast cancer." My original wording was: "...a use pattern producing threefold higher breast cancer increases." These do not mean the same thing. Specifically, I was referring (with reference to the study by Kahlenborn, et al.; #3 cited at the end of the sentence) to a 45% risk increase among women using OC before first full- term pregnancy (FFTP), compared to a 15% risk increase among women using OC only after FFTP. The former is properly described as threefold higher, since 45% is three times 15%. In contrast, by omitting the term "higher" in describing the risk increase, one ends up with "threefold increases in the risk of breast cancer", which clearly means a 200% increase in risk. Readers may justifiably accuse me of exaggeration if the error stands. Therefore a correction of the wording, to "...a use pattern producing threefold higher increases in the risk of breast cancer." would be in order. Competing interests: None declared